1.   Bell Atlantic, soon to merge with Nynex, has not had massive layoffs, as yet, but many have retired with incentives to leave the payroll.

2.   But Frates said the growing reliance on retired workers shows the county was not prepared to replace the skills and knowledge of those leaving the payroll.

3.   City workers have been induced to leave the payroll by generous severance programs, he noted, and much of the benefit reductions have been passed on to retirees.

4.   Federal spending declined during the summer because tens of thousands of census takers left the payroll.

5.   There are people who have left the payroll but remain on the job like ghosts and people who are busy preparing themselves for the unknown.